The present invention relates to electrical connectors apt to be coupled to a complementary connector by plugging. More particularly, it relates to an electrical connector of the kind having an insulating body of rectangular cross-section formed with at least one row of passages extending parallel to the plugging direction and designed to receive respective contact terminals, with at least one side wall of the passages being cut out to form detents whose resilience tends to hold them in a position in which they project into the passages where they retain the terminals in abutment against a backwardly-directed shoulder formed in each passage.
In miniature connectors, which are being used more and more in electronics, in particular in cars, the detents are very thin and fragile. They run the risk of flexing or breaking and thus of allowing the contacts to escape.
Connectors have already been proposed that further include a part, often referred to as a "grid", that is fitted over the front end portion of the body and that prevents the detents from flexing and releasing the contacts once the grid is in place. The grid is generally designed so that it cannot be inserted unless all terminals are fully engaged and locked in place. Otherwise the grid comes into abutment against detents that are outwardly flexed.